XN000022-1985-03-18 — Page 2

MONDAY, MARCH 18, 1985

CJ STRESSES INFLUENCE OF JUDICIARY

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THE INFLUENCE OF THE JUDICIARY AND THE ATTITUDE OF JUDGES WERE IMPORTANT TO THE USE OF IMPRISONMENT AND ITS ALTERNATIVES AS WELL AS THEIR EFFECT ON PRISON POPULATION, THE CHIEF JUSTICE, SIR DENYS ROBERTS SAID TODAY (MONDAY).

ADDRESSING THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF COMMONWEALTH CORRECTIONAL ADMINISTRATORS, SIR DENYS SAID: The COMMON LAW SYSTEM, WHICH IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST LINKS BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH. IS FOUNDED ON THE BELIEF THAT JUDGES MUST BE INDEPENDENT OF THE EXECUTIVE IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THEIR JUDICIAL TASKS, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT OF WHICH IS PASSING SENTENCE.+

BECAUSE A JUDGE WAS INDEPENDENT, NOBODY COULD GIVE HIM INSTRUCTIONS AS TO HOW HE SHOULD EXERCISE HIS POWER TO SENTENCE WHICH WAS LEFT, WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS, WHOLLY WITHIN HIS DISCRETION, HE SAID.

HOWEVER, THERE WERE SOME EXTERNAL INFLUENCES AND PRESSURES WHICH MIGHT AFFECT THEIR MINDS, WHEN THEY APPROACHED THE QUESTION OF SENTENCE, WHICH, AS SIR DENYS DESCRIBED, WAS THE HARDEST ASPECT OF THEIR WORK.

SUCH EXTERNAL INFLUENCES AND PRESSURES ALL URGED HIM IN THE DIRECTION OF SEVERITY, WHICH IN PRACTICAL TERMS, MEANT LONG SENTENCES OF IMPRISONMENT, HE SAID,

ONE OF THESE INFLUENCES WAS HIS MIDDLE-CLASS PERSONAL BACKGROUND, WHICH WAS DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF HIS DEFENDANTS, AND IT WAS THEREFORE NOT EASY FOR HIM TO APPRECIATE FULLY THE MOTIVES AND TEMPERAMENT OF THOSE WHOM HE SENTENCED, SIR DENYS SAID,

IN HIS SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT, HIS FRIENDS WITH SIMILAR BACKGROUND AND INTEREST WOULD ALSO GIVE HIM THEIR VIEW OF PREFERRING HEAVY PENALTIES FOR CRIMES WHICH WOULD UNDERMINE THE SOCIETY IN WHICH THEY HAD PROSPERED, HE ADDED.

+HOWEVER IMPARTIAL A JUDGE MAY BE, IN RELATION TO AN INDIVIDUAL CASE, HE CANNOT ESCAPE THE INFLUENCE OF PRESS, RADIO AND TELEVISION, AND THE PUBLIC UTTERANCES OF THE MAIN SELF-APPOINTED EXPERTS WHO INSIST ON THE NEED FOR STERN TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS,+ HE SAID.

IN SPITE OF THESE PRESSURES, SIR DENYS SAID, MANY JUDGES MANAGED TO PRESERVE A REMARKABLE DEGREE OF DETACHMENT AND WERE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO GIVE TO THE OFFENDER THE PROPER DEGREE OF CONSIDERATION FOR THE MORAL CONTENT OF THE OFFENCE AND FOR HIS PERSONAL BACKGROUND.

NEVERTHELESS, A JUDGE COULD NOT BE EXPECTED TO REMAIN OBLIVIOUS TO THE DEMAND FOR SEVERITY, WHICH MIGHT IMPEL HIM TO ADD TO THE PRISON POPULATION, WHEN OTHER METHODS MIGHT BE BETTER BOTH FOR SOCIETY AND FOR THE OFFENDER, HE SAID.

/+FOR THESE .............